As soon as the government money dried up the project became unworkable, unfeasible and uneconomical.

Hmmmm.....

Build the nuclear power plant with shielding, and scale up the rest of the plane until it constitutes less than 20% of the weight of the plane.Did they consider making the wingspan 3500 feet?They'd need a 50 mile long runway.Steam powered props and turbines?Something like SHEILD's Helicarrier or Capt.Scarlet's Cloudbase?Let 747s dock with it.Land on it.